Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 139 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 113.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in American Tower were worth $48,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE AMT opened at $179.99 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $197.83 and its 200 day moving average is $212.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market cap of $84.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AMT shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.08.

About American Tower

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.